Matthew Whitaker was previous Jeff Sessions' chief of staff. Sessions submitted his resignation on Wednesday, one day after the 2018 midterm elections.

USA TODAY

Dozens of Corpus Christi residents participated in a nationwide call to action dubbed "Nobody is above the law."

The protests were sparked by the ouster of Jeff Sessions as United States attorney general and what it means for special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

"(Trump) has now fired Jeff Sessions and brought in (Matthew Whitaker), who doesn't agree with the investigation ... that was our red line," said Corpus Christi resident Lisa Orsborn Hernandez. "Nobody is above the law and that's the message we're trying to send nationwide."

Trump promoted Whitaker promoted to Sessions' position Wednesday. Trump has publicly called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to rein in Mueller.

In a television appearance in July 2017, Whitaker raised the prospect that the Justice Department, rather than firing Mueller outright, could choke off funding for the office, which would lead to the inquiry’s slow death, according to reports.

MoveOn and Public Citizen are among the groups that began protest preparations last summer after Trump fired then-FBI director James Comey, who was overseeing the Russia investigation.